The man, known only by the surname Wang (46), accidentally swallowed the metal mallet back in 2018 while eating while drunk. After an initial examination, doctors recommended surgery, which involved an incision on the side of his neck to retrieve the instrument. However, instead of immediate removal by a doctor he said he didn’t want to have his throat slit out of fearthe portal reported.
He chose to live with the mallet stuck in his throat and endured the discomfort and pain for years. At the time he stated that he felt periodic discomfort with each meal, but had no breathing problems. Wang sought medical attention only when the pain intensified and swallowing became incredibly difficult for him.
Fortunately for him, surgeons successfully pulled the mallet through his mouth using a minimally invasive technique. Fortunately, the man’s vocal cords were not hit or seriously damaged by the mallet and are expected to be fully recovered. He was finally released from the hospital just a few days after the operation.
Half a century with a brush in the body
However, this case is not unique in China. An even more bizarre fate befell a man who lived with a foreign object in his body for an incredible 52 years – because he had a toothbrush stuck in his intestine. Doctors operated on a 64-year-old patient in 2025 after he came to the hospital with unrelenting abdominal pain.
Doctors discovered a 17cm long toothbrush had been stuck in his body for more than five decades. It was a man named Yang. He told doctors he remembers swallowing a toothbrush when he had only 12 years old, but at that time he was afraid to tell his parents. He believed that the brush would dissolve in the body by itself, so he went on with his life as if nothing had happened.
